The

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps (), they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. ...

toured Pakistan in September and October 2021, and were scheduled to play three

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) and five

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) matches. It was New Zealand's first tour of Pakistan since 2003. However, on the morning of the first ODI match,

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New ...

(NZC) raised a security alert with the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

(PCB) and the Pakistan Government, which resulted in the entire tour being called off. In December 2021, both cricket boards agreed to play a set of extra fixtures in Pakistan in April 2023 to make up for the postponed tour, following New Zealand's tour of Pakistan in December 2022.

Background

On 4 August 2021, the PCB confirmed the schedule for the tour. The ODIs were scheduled to take place at the

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium is a cricket stadium located in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located close to Pir Meher Ali Shah University and Rawalpindi Arts Council and has an estimated capacity of 18,000. The f ...

, and the T20Is would have taken place at the

Gaddafi Stadium Gaddafi Stadium formerly known as Lahore Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan, owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). With a capacity of 34,000, it is the List of cricket grounds in Pakistan, largest c ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. Tom Latham was named as New Zealand's captain, with

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and a former captain of the New Zealand national team. On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. ...

being unavailable due to him playing in the rescheduled phase of the

2021 Indian Premier League The 2021 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, VIVO IPL 2021) was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricke ...

. After the

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took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, several New Zealand players reportedly expressed concerns about touring Pakistan. On 18 August,

announced that its players would have the right to pull out of the tour if they "felt uneasy about touring Pakistan even if the tour went ahead". The ODI series was originally scheduled to form part of the inaugural

2020–23 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. However, in September 2021 it was announced that due to the unavailability of the

Decision Review System The Decision Review System (DRS), formerly known as the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), is a technology-based system used in cricket to assist the match officials in their decision-making. On-field umpires may choose to consult with the t ...

(DRS), the ODI matches would be a standalone bilateral series. The World Cup Super League matches were rescheduled for New Zealand's tour of Pakistan in 2022–23.

Reactions and aftermath

Newly-appointed PCB Chairman

Ramiz Raja 'Ramiz Hasan Raja (; born 14 August 1962) is a Pakistani cricket sports commentator and former cricketer who served as the 36th Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from 2021 to 2022. He played international cricket for the Pakistan na ...

expressed his disappointment on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and said that "New Zealand will hear us at ICC". Former Pakistan fast bowler

Shoaib Akhtar Shoaib Akhtar (; born 13 August 1975) is a Pakistani former international cricketer and commentator. Nicknamed the "Rawalpindi Express", he is the fastest bowler in cricketing history, with an unbeaten 161.3 kmph (100.23 mph) delivery. Akht ...

also reacted on New Zealand's decision to pull out of the series and said "New Zealand just killed Pakistan cricket". Pakistan's team captain

Babar Azam Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, ; ; born 15 October 1994) is a Pakistani international cricketer and a former Captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team , national team in all three formats of the game. A right-handed top-orde ...

also took to Twitter to express his displeasure over the cancellation of the series, saying he was "extremely disappointed" and stated that he has the full trust in Pakistan's security agencies. The New Zealand cricket board chief executive David White said in a statement that they had no choice but to call off the tour of Pakistan. White later said that "there was no way we could stay in the country" following the advice they were given, but also thanked the PCB for their professionalism. Former New Zealand all-rounder

Grant Elliott Grant David Elliott (born 21 March 1979) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a batting all-rounder, Elliott contributed a man of the match performance to provide entrance to New Zealand's first ever ...

also reacted to the news and said, "Sad news for players and fans". On 20 September 2021, the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

(ECB) announced that both their men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

tours to the country in October 2021 had been cancelled, citing issues around wellbeing and concerns of travelling to the region.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, which are also scheduled to tour Pakistan in 2022, said that said they are monitoring the situation and will "talk with the relevant authorities once more information becomes known."

Squads

Usman Qadir Usman Qadir (; born 10 August 1993) is a former Pakistani International cricketer. He was part of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. He made his international debut for the Pakistan cricket team in November ...

Shahnawaz Dahani Shahnawaz Dahani (Sindhi : شاھنواز ڏاھاڻي, ; born 5 August 1998) is a Pakistani cricketer who made his international debut for the Pakistan national cricket team in November 2021. He made his Twenty20 debut on 23 February 2021 in the ...

and Fakhar Zaman were named as travelling reserves in Pakistan's T20I squad. Ahead of the tour Pakistan's Mohammad Nawaz tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Pakistan named a squad of twenty players for the ODI series, with twelve of those being selected for the first match. New Zealand's

Tom Blundell Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blun ...

was ruled out of the ODI series due to an injury, with Daryl Mitchell named as his replacement.

ODI series

1st ODI

2nd ODI

3rd ODI

T20I series

1st T20I

2nd T20I

3rd T20I

4th T20I

5th T20I

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand cricket team in Pakistan in 2021-22 2021 in Pakistani cricket 2021 in New Zealand cricket International cricket competitions in 2021–22 New Zealand cricket tours of Pakistan Cancelled cricket competitions